Mitigations include reducing Vehicle Miles Travelled, expanding bicycle and BART ridership but encourages telecommuting, expand bus system, moratorium on gas station construction, natural gas ban in new construction, growing own food through community gardens and the “Hight Priority Action” of urban farming, plus, buying second-hand items, reducing air travel

“GHG emissions have fallen since 2018” – City staff report

By Allen D. Payton

Even though greenhouse gas emissions have decreased in Antioch over the past several years, according to the staff report on item #6J on the Consent Calendar for tonight’s Antioch City Council meeting, residents and businesses aren’t doing enough to meet state goals. In response, the council is being asked to approve the 2025-2030 Climate Action & Resilience Plan (CARP). The report states, “In 2022 the State of California passed AB 1279 (known as The California Climate Crisis Act), mandating that emissions statewide must fall to 85% of 1990 levels by 2045. The City must update its climate goals to reduce emissions in accordance with State law.” Adopting the plan “at this time allows the City to link it to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Five-year Consolidated Plan, giving some programs identified in the CARP a possible funding source for the next 5 years.”

Furthermore, the staff report reads, “In 2010, the City adopted its first Climate Action Plans (CAPs). These CAPs, and subsequent CARP’s, included greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reports from 2005-2022. GHG emissions have fallen since 2018, according to inventories conducted as a part of this CARP update (Fig. A). This document is the second edition of the CARP, which incorporates resiliency into climate work. By incorporating resilience into the climate plan, implementation work is eligible for federal Community Block Development Grant (‘CDBG’) funding.”

Proposed Mitigations

The proposed mitigations to reduce GHG’s in Antioch are as follows:

Transportation Emissions – “encouraging the shift away from single occupancy internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles” and “to reduce total Vehicle Miles Traveled” which is known as Mode Shift.

1. Develop a Mobility Plan for Antioch
2. Expand bicycle ridership
3. Increase BART ridership
4. Expand current bus system
5. Work to make downtown more accessible by active transportation and public transportation
   1. Expand bus from BART Station to Antioch’s downtown Rivertown
   2. Continue L Street improvements such as implementation of bike lanes, bus shelters and signal timing
6. Work regionally to encourage telecommuting options where appropriate (which reduces the need for BART and bus ridership).

Transportation Electrification

1. Strategically expand EV charging stations
   1. Install charging stations in commercial centers, downtown and in community centers.
   2. Support residents with financing home charger installation with information about rebates.
   3. Support installation of EV chargers in multifamily complexes.
2. Provide financial incentives and support outreach for programs and policies that encourage the switch to EV.
3. Implement the purchasing guide for switching the city fleet to EVs by 2029.
4. Continue advocating for gas station construction moratorium or consider adding the requirement to install EV charging stations at any new gas station.

Electricity Use

While Antioch’s total electricity use has remained more or less consistent since 2005 except for a spike in 2020 and 2021 – during COVID – electricity-related emissions have drastically decreased from 52.7% to 20.3% between 2005 and 2022. This can be attributed to the decreasing share of carbon-based fuels, such as natural gas, that powers PG&E electricity.

Natural Gas Use

Consumption of natural gas in commercial and residential facilities decreased modestly between 2005 and 2017, and since 2018 has remained largely steady with a slight uptick in 2022. Electrical appliances have slowly begun to replace natural gas-powered appliances in some homes, and household solar energy projects have also reduced the share of natural gas in total energy use.

The California Air Resources Board passed a regulation in 2022 that mandated phasing out gas appliances in the state starting in 2030. The City of Antioch can help support this transition through assisting residents with signing up for rebates and continuing to promote organizations such as the Bay Area Regional Energy Network (BayREN), which focuses on on energy, water and greenhouse gas reduction. 

Residential Energy Proposed Actions

1. Energy Efficiency Improvements in homes
   1. Continue outreach for BayREN home improvement rebates
   2. Support Contra Costa County’s Weatherization Program
2. Encourage Fuel Switching from natural gas to electricity
   1. Consider a natural gas ban in qualifying new construction.
   2. Explore the requirement electric panel upgrades during major renovations or during home sales.
   3. Explore the use of battery storage in tandem with solar.
   4. Partner with organizations like Bay Area SunShares for discounts and Grid Alternatives, formed ‘to build community-powered solutions to advance economic and environmental justice through renewable energy” for expansion of solar installation in Antioch homes and businesses.
3. Expand outreach to landlords and contractors about electrification.
4. Continue on bill financing (OBF) and metered energy efficiency, that, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, is an option in which a utility or private lender supplies capital to a customer to make energy efficiency improvements and is repaid through regular payments on an existing utility bill.

Commercial Energy Proposed Actions:

1. Increase participation in the Green Business (SMB) program
   1. Help the program conduct outreach
   2. Consider additional incentives
2. Encourage energy audits in commercial buildings
3. Expand participation in BayREN business programs.
4. Expand outreach to business owners and contractors about electrification and its benefits.
5. Incentivize local renewable energy projects.

Waste

Waste makes up a small fraction (6.1%) of Antioch’s greenhouse gas emissions but have the potential for quick impact. Since 2005, the tonnage of total waste has decreased substantially, though most of the reductions were accomplished by 2010 and waste related emissions have decreased by nearly 29% since 2005.

Organization waste as a percentage of total waste has declined slightly, also reducing emissions. When organic waste is put in the trash bin and joins the landfill, its decomposition lacks oxygen and leads to methane release. Methane is a short-lived but incredible potent greenhouse gas in the atmosphere and is 28 times more powerful at trapping heat than carbon dioxide.

California’s SB 1383 requires every jurisdiction to provide organic waste collection services to all households and businesses. (See related article) Antioch’s composting program has helped reduce the share of organics in landfill by storing decaying matter in productive soil.

Proposed Actions:

1. Expand awareness and reach of commercial and residential composting program
2. Provide more community outreach into h ow to correctly sort waste (what should be put in compost, recycling, landfill and what is hazardous waste).
   1. Hire part-time staff to work primarily on outreach for the program with a focus on community events.
3. Examine urban farming as a way to work toward a circular economy through local use of compost generated from local organic waste.
   1. City and Waste Hauler coordinate to provide more frequent community compost giveaway offerings for residents to improve their garden soil health for growing their own food. Currently there is one annual event.
   2. City encourages and funds the creation of more community gardens throughout Antioch, especially in low-income, food-insecure neighborhoods that create their own compost for food waster and/or receive compost from the City’s Waste Hauler (Republic Services).
4. Expand food rescue programs
   1. Assist food rescue organizations in working with more restaurants (and other edible food generators) to maximize donation of all edible food.
   2. Partner with homeless shelters to provide food from rescue efforts.
5. Campaign to reduce single-use plastics to reduce waste and plastic pollution.
   1. Increase education efforts to the public on the many ways that plastic is harmful and how to use less of it, especially single-use plastic.

Consumption Based Inventory

Consumption-based emissions are those that are released in the production of all goods that are consumed by a community. The report shows a chart that includes food consumed, electricity, natural gas and vehicle fuel use, appliances, entertainment equipment and clothing purchased and services.

The report states, “The scale of Antioch’s contributions to global greenhouse gas emissions is significantly higher when taking a more holistic approach to a community’s carbon emissions…the community can strive to be more conscious about consumption and travel patterns. Purchasing locally produced goods…can lower the emissions associated with the transportation required to move goods across counties, states and countries. Reducing air travel can also drastically reduce a household’s carbon footprint.

Proposed Actions:

1. Encourage residents to buy items second hand whenever possible, to reduce overall emissions from consumption.
2. Support programs such as fix-it clinics, maker spaces and sharing networks.

Community Engagement

Youth Engagement Proposed Actions Include:

Encourage AUSD to incorporate topics about climate change, environmental resilience and green technology into the curriculum beginning in elementary schools. Antioch High School is already a leader in incorporating sustainability into the curriculum.

1. Bike Path Challenge – support students in designing and developing a bike path from Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve to the downtown waterfront area.
2. Engage the Antioch Council of Teens in the Cleaner Contra Costa Challenge.

Workforce Development and Local Economy

Goals include:

• Prepare the Antioch workforce for a changing climate
  • Invest in workforce training programs for construction, green building, electricians,
  • mechanics, advanced manufacturing and PV installers.
• Provide opportunities for low-income residents to acquire living wage jobs
• Reduce commuting times for Antioch residents and workers
• Retain and expand small local businesses, which are hubs for jobs, critical infrastructure and community resilience.

Proposed Actions Include:

1. Establish local preference policies in procurement guidelines.
2. Work with Northern Waterfront Economic Development Initiative (NWEDI) on strengthening an equitable local green economy with local jobs and effective workforce development programs.
3. Partner with educational institutions to promote green career pathways and  provide professional experiences to students in building, planning and conservation.

Economic Security and Equity

The report states, “The heat-or-eat dilemma already faced by low-income families by may soon become a ‘cool-or-eat’ dilemma during the summer months. Damages related to flooding, which will occur in neighborhoods with higher levels of low-income residents, put further strain on household finances and health.

In these ways, Antioch’s low-income residents are most vulnerable to the projected effects of climate change. The City should develop the capacity to aid and support low-income neighborhoods in responding to these challenges.”

Proposed Actions

1. Hire low-income community representative to better understand the needs of low-income neighborhoods and more effectively conduct engagement efforts
2. Develop guidelines to encourage urban farming and home gardening in the Antioch community
3. Center equity in consideration of climate policy and programming.

Benefits include:

Equity:

• Provide increased economic opportunity for low-income communities and communities of color
• Build trust between the City of Antioch and low-income communities and communities of color
• Improve the health of low-income communities and communities of color
• Improve the qualify of life for unsheltered persons.

Public Health:

• Improve outdoor and indoor air quality
• Reduce health events related to extreme heat

Resource Conservation:

• Improve sustainability by reducing use of finite resources
  • Water
  • Energy
  • Single-use plastics

Transportation Goals:

• Reduce the Vehicle Miles Travelled in the Antioch community through encouraging transportation mode shift
• Reduce emissions impact of Vehicle Miles Travelled through vehicle electrification

Energy Goals:

• Increase fuel switching from natural gas to electricity
• Increase energy security by reducing energy demand
• Reduce the impact of electricity use on greenhouse gas emissions

Waste Goals:

• Begin building the system to transform Antioch into a low carbon, low waste community and contribute to a circular economy
• Gather community engagement and support for a circular economy

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “A circular economy keeps materials and products in circulation for as long as possible. A circular economy reduces material use, redesigns materials and products to be less resource intensive, and recaptures ‘waste’ as a resource to manufacture new materials and products.”

Community Development Goals:

• Strengthen Antioch’s social and economic systems to promote resilience
• Remove barriers to economic, political and social participation in low-income communities and communities of color
• Expand engagement between the City of Antioch and the Antioch community

The Antioch City Council’s regular open session meeting begins at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 200 H Street in historic, downtown Rivertown. The meeting can also be seen via livestream on the City’s website or viewed on either Comcast local cable channel 24 or AT&T U-verse channel 99.

See agenda item #6J City staff report and Climate Action and Resilience Plan.

the attachments to this post:

Climate Action & Resilience Plan graphic

High Priority Action – Urban Farming

Antioch Yearly Landfill Tonnage

Antioch GHG Emissions 2018-22 chart

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